Method, system and apparatus for announcing caller information over a television link

ABSTRACT

A method, system and apparatus for announcing caller information to users over a television link. The method comprises receiving signalling information associated with an incoming call destined for a destination party, the signalling information comprising a portion conveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call and information regarding an identity of the destination party. The method also comprises attempting to establish a telephony link with a device associated with the destination party over a communication network in response to said receiving. The method further comprises attempting to establish a second telephony link with a processing entity to convey said portion of the signalling information to the processing entity to cause delivery of an indication of the origin of the incoming call over a television link associated with the destination party, said indication based on said information regarding an origin of the incoming call.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This present application is a continuation of, and claims the benefitunder 35 USC 120 of, PCT Patent Application Serial NumberPCT/CA2005/001768 entitled “METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR ANNOUNCINGCALLER INFORMATION OVER A TELEVISION LINK”, filed on Nov. 21, 2005,filed in the English language, designating the United States and herebyincorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to video delivery systems and morespecifically to a method, system and apparatus for announcing callerinformation over a television link.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With recent developments in the telecommunications industry, customersare not only expecting basic telephony services (such as reliable voiceconnectivity from one point to another), but also expect to receive anumber of augmented services. In particular, customers expect to haveaccess to services such as voice mail, call forwarding, three-waycalling and Caller Line ID (CLID) information announcements. By virtueof the CLID information announcement feature, customers can obtaininformation about a calling party before actually accepting a call.Generally, information about the calling party can comprise a telephonenumber of the calling party and/or a name of the calling party that isregistered in association with the telephone number of the callingparty. Obtaining CLID information prior to answering the call allowscustomers to make a decision how to treat the call, such as whether toanswer or ignore the call. This service is particularly suitable forcall screening, for instance screening calls from unknown or blacklistedparties.

Several types of devices for announcing CLID information are known inthe art. A first type of device is incorporated into a telephone set(whether wired or cordless), referred to herein below as a built-indevice. Another type of device is a stand-alone device connected in-linebetween the telephone set and the telephone jack. Such stand-alonedevices allow users of telephone sets that do not have theaforementioned built-in devices to nonetheless enjoy the benefits ofCLID information announcement. Both types of devices are operable toextract CLID information from received SS7 network signallinginformation and to process this information to announce the CLIDinformation to the user (typically by means of a display). Somestand-alone devices can display the CLID information on a televisionscreen, allowing the viewers to see who is calling while they arewatching the television.

Users who would like to receive CLID information announcement on thetelevision screen while watching a particular program on theirtelevision screen find the aforementioned solutions unsatisfactory. In aspecific case where the telephony link to the user's telephone is busy(for instance, when the user or someone else in the user's household isusing the phone), and a second call destined for the user's telephone isoriginated, the user may not receive an announcement of the secondincoming call on his or her television screen.

Thus, improvements in the convenience with which users may get CLIDinformation announcement on their television screen would be welcomed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a method.The method comprises receiving signalling information associated with anincoming call destined for a destination party, the signallinginformation comprising a portion conveying information regarding anorigin of the incoming call and information regarding an identity of thedestination party. The method further comprises responsive to thereceiving, attempting to establish a telephony link with a deviceassociated with the destination party over a communication network. Themethod further comprises. attempting to establish a second telephonylink with a processing entity to convey the portion of the signallinginformation to the processing entity to cause delivery of an indicationof the origin of the incoming call over a television link associatedwith the destination party, the indication based on the informationregarding an origin of the incoming call.

A second broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide amethod. The method comprises receiving a telephony call from a networkelement responsible for handling an incoming call destined for a deviceassociated with a destination party, the telephony call having beenestablished by the network element in response to receiving signallinginformation associated with the incoming call destined for thedestination party; the signalling information comprising a portionconveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call andinformation regarding an identity of the destination party; thetelephony call having been established to convey the portion of thesignalling information. The method further comprises responsive to thereceiving, causing transmission of an announcement trigger over atelevision link associated with the destination party to cause anindication of the origin of the incoming call to be announced to thedestination party, the indication based on the information regarding anorigin of the incoming call.

A third broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a system.The system comprises at least one network element associated with acommunication network and a processing entity. The at least one networkelement is operable: to receive signalling information associated withan incoming call destined for a destination party, the signallinginformation comprising a portion conveying information regarding anorigin of the incoming call and information regarding an identity of thedestination party; responsive to receiving the signalling information,to attempt establishing a telephony link with a device associated withthe destination party over a portion of the communication network; andto attempt establishing a second telephony link with the processingentity to convey the portion of the signalling information to theprocessing entity. The processing entity is operable to receive theportion of the signalling information to cause delivery of an indicationof the origin of the incoming call over a television link associatedwith the destination party, the indication based on the informationregarding an origin of the incoming call.

A fourth broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide anetwork element comprising: means for receiving signalling informationassociated with an incoming call destined for a destination party, thesignalling information comprising a portion conveying informationregarding an origin of the incoming call and information regarding anidentity of the destination party; means for attempting to establish atelephony link with a device associated with the destination party overa communication network responsive to the receiving, and means forattempting to establish a second telephony link with a processing entityto convey the portion of the signalling information to a processingentity to cause delivery of the information regarding the origin of thecall over a television link associated with the destination party.

Another broad aspect of the present invention seeks to provide anapparatus. The apparatus comprises a first interface operable to connectto a communication network and to receive a telephony call from anetwork element responsible for handling an incoming call destined for adevice associated with a destination party, the telephony call havingbeen established by the network element in response to receivingsignalling information associated with the incoming call destined forthe destination party; the signalling information comprising a portionconveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call andinformation regarding an identity of the destination party; thetelephony call having been established to convey the portion of thesignalling information. The apparatus further comprises a secondinterface operable to connect to a television link associated with thedestination party; and a processing unit coupled to the first and secondinterfaces; the processing unit operable to receive the signallinginformation via the first interface and to cause transmission via thesecond interface of an announcement trigger to cause an indication ofthe origin of the incoming call to be announced to the destinationparty, the indication based on the information regarding an origin ofthe incoming call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A detailed description of specific embodiments of the invention isprovided herein below, by way of example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual block diagram showing various components of asystem for extracting information indicative of an originator of anincoming call for announcement to a user on a television screen.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart of a method for extracting informationindicative of an originator of an incoming call for announcement to theuser on a television screen executable at a terminating network elementdepicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart of a method for forwarding informationindicative of an originator of an incoming call to the user, the methodexecutable at a processing entity of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4A and 4B depict a logical signal flow diagram that illustratesexchange of signals containing information associated with an originatorof an incoming call between various elements of the system of FIG. 1while performing the method of FIG. 2 in two embodiments of the presentinventions.

FIG. 4C depicts a logical signal flow diagram that illustrates exchangeof signals containing information associated with an originator of anincoming call between various elements of the system of FIG. 1 whileperforming the method of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 depicts a conceptual block diagram of a database maintained by aprocessing entity of FIG. 1.

In the drawings, the embodiments of the invention are illustrated by wayof examples. It is to be expressly understood that the description anddrawings are only for the purposes of illustration and are an aid forunderstanding. They are not intended to be a definition of the limits ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the scenario to be described below with reference to FIG. 1 whichdepicts a system 100 for extracting information indicative of anoriginator of an incoming call for announcement to a user on atelevision screen, an originating party 102A is desirous of placing anincoming call to a destination party 102B. The originating party 102Ahas access to a number of devices situated in originating party premises104A, including but not necessarily limited to a communication device106A. It should be understood, that the originating party 102A may haveaccess to a number of other devices located in the originating partypremises 104A, such as one or more set-top boxes, one or more computingapparatuses, and one or more displays and the like.

The destination party 102B can have access to a number of devicessituated in destination party premises 104B, such as a communicationdevice 106B, a set-top box 108B and a display 110B. It should beunderstood that the destination party 102B may have access to a numberof other devices located in the destination party premises 104B, such asone or more computing apparatuses, other set-top boxes and displays andthe like.

The destination party 102B may have a business relationship with aservice provider (not depicted) who provides telephony and/or otherservices to the destination party 102B. The service provided can be aCompetitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), an Incumbent Local ExchangeCarrier (ILEC), an Internet telephony service provider or the like. Forinstance, the service provider who has entered into a businessrelationship with the destination party 102B can be Bell Canada of 1050Beaver Hall Hill, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The service provider candeliver a number of telephony services to the destination party 102B,such as local calling, long-distance calling, as well as a number ofaugmented services, such as three-way calling, conference calling, callwaiting and the like. The service provider can be further operable todeliver a CLID information announcement feature according to theteachings of this invention. It should be appreciated that the CLIDinformation announcement feature can be delivered on a subscriptionbasis (i.e. the destination party 102B needs to subscribe to the serviceand/or pay a subscription fee) or as part of a service package. Itshould be appreciated that the originating party 102A may have abusiness relationship with the same or a different service provider.

The communication device 106A is connected to the communication device106B via a communication network 112. The communication network 112 canbe under control and/or management of the service provider with whom thedestination party 102B has a business relationship or, alternatively,under control and/or management of a different service provider or athird party. The nature of the communication network 112 is notparticularly limiting and, as such, the communications network 112 caninclude a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), acellular network, a data network adapted for handling Voice-over-IP(VoIP) calls (such as the Internet), or a combination thereof. It willbe appreciated that the type of the communication network 112 and thetype of the communication devices 106A and 106B are interdependent. Forexample, if the communication devices 106A and 106B are POTS phones,then the communication network 112 will comprise at least a portion ofthe PSTN. On the other hand, if the communication devices 106A and 106Bare Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, than the communication network 112 willcomprise at least a portion of the data network adapted for handlingVoice-over-IP (VoIP) calls (such as the Internet). In yet anotherexample, if the communication device 106A is a POTS phone and thecommunication device 106B is a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone, then thecommunication network 112 will comprise at least a portion of the PSTNand at least a portion of the data network (such as the Internet) withsuitable media gateways for converting analog voice to IP packets andvice versa well known to those of skill in the art. Other variationswill be apparent to those of skill in the art. As such, when theincoming call originates from the communication device 106A, it passesthrough the communications network 112 to reach the communication device106B.

The communication network 112 may comprises a network element 114A, anetwork element 114B and a network element 140. The type of networkelements 114A, 114B and 140 is not particularly limiting and will dependon the type of the communication network 112. To illustrate, in the casewhere the communication network 112 comprises the PSTN, the networkelements 114A, 114B and 140 can comprise switches, such as DMS-100switches manufactured and distributed by Nortel Networks of 8200 DixieRoad, Brampton, Ontario L6T 5P6, Canada. As a further illustration, inthe case where the communication network 112 comprises the data networkadapted for handling Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls (such as the Internet),the network elements 114A, 114B and 140 can comprise so-called softswitches, such as a MCS 5200 Soft Switch manufactured by Nortel Networksof 8200 Dixie Road, Brampton, Ontario L6T 5P6, Canada. In someembodiments of the present invention, the network elements 114A, 114Band 140 can be embodied in a single soft switch. It should be understoodthat any other suitable network element can be deployed.

Irrespective of the type of network elements 114A, 114B or 140 deployed,the network elements 114A, 114B and 140 are operable to route callsbetween various end-points. In particular, the network elements 114A and114B are operable to route the incoming call from the communicationdevice 106A to the communication device 106B. Specifically, when theincoming call is originated from the communication device 106A, it isfirst received at the network element 114A. The incoming call includessignalling information, which can be SS7 signalling information in caseof the communication network 112 comprising the PSTN and SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) messages in the case of the communicationnetwork 112 comprising the data network adapted for handlingVoice-over-IP (VoIP) calls. Responsive to receiving the signallinginformation, the network element 114A is operable to identify thenetwork element 114B associated with the communication device 106B andthe appropriate route to such network element 114B. As will beappreciated by those of skill in the art, where the communicationnetwork 112 comprises the PSTN, this process comprises establishing acircuit between the network element 114A and the network element 114B.Where the communication network 112 comprises the data network adaptedfor handling Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls, this process comprises routingthe packets from the network element 114A to the network element 114B.

The network element 114B can comprise a processing database 115. Theprocessing database 115 can comprise a list of all the destinationparties (such as the destination party 102B) which the network element114B serves. For example, the processing database 115 can comprisenetwork identifiers associated with various destination parties (such asa telephone number associated with the communication device 106Bassociated with the destination party 102B) whose telephony linksterminate on the network element 114B. The processing database 115 canfurther comprise an indication of various augmented services that aparticular destination party (such as destination party 102B) issubscribed to. For instance, if the destination party 102B subscribes tothe CLID information announcement feature of this invention, theprocessing database 115 can be provisioned with a CLID announcement flagin association with the network identifier of the destination party114B. The CLID announcement flag can be a Termination Attempt Trigger, asimultaneous ring trigger or another suitable trigger. It should beappreciated that network elements 114A and 140 can have processingdatabases similar to the processing database 115.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, there is also provided a processingentity 120 coupled to the communication network 112 via theaforementioned network element 140. The processing entity 120 may beunder the control and/or management of the service provider with whomthe destination party 102B has a business relationship. Alternatively,the processing entity 120 may be under control and/or management of athird party. The processing entity 120 is coupled to the network element140 which is operable to process calls to/from the processing entity 120via the communication network 112. The network element 140 can beidentical in structure to the network elements 114A and 114B.

The processing entity 120 can comprise a call control portion 122, avideo control portion 126 and a database 124. It should be appreciatedthat the processing entity 120 may contain a number of other componentsused for other purposes than the purpose of this invention.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the call control portion 122can comprise an HP Proliant DL380 G2 Telephony Server (Dual CPU 1.4 GHzIntel Pentium III, RAM 2 Gigs) manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Companyof 3000 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, Calif., USA, and 2 NMS CG6000 cardmanufactured by NMS Communications of 100 Crossing Boulevard,Framingham, Mass., USA with the RedHat Linux Enterprise Edition 3 WSsoftware distributed by RedHat Corporation of 1801 Varsity Drive,Raleigh, N.C., USA. The call control portion 122 can further comprisecall processing logic, the call processing logic being responsible forcontrolling various hardware components of the call control portion 122(for example, the HP Proliant DL380 G2 Telephony Server or othercomponents of the call control portion 122) and for receiving andprocessing signalling information. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the call processing logic can comprise a Ubiquity ApplicationServer, which can be provided by Ubiquity of 515 Legget Drive, Suite400, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Ubiquity Application Server can beoperable to receive, unwrap and process SIP-based signallinginformation. In other embodiments, the call processing logic cancomprise a Java-based software application for receiving, unwrapping andprocessing SS7-based signalling information. It should be understoodthat any other suitable call processing logic can be employed for thepurposes of this invention and as one skilled in the art willappreciate, the call processing logic will depend on the type of thesignalling information and the type of processing required. It should berecognized that the call control portion 122 can further comprise anumber of other hardware, firmware and software components. Forinstance, in some embodiments of the present invention, the call controlportion 122 can further comprise a media server, which can be used forDTMF signal detection and the like.

The call control portion 122 is coupled to the network element 140 and,as such, is operable to receive an incoming call via the communicationnetwork 112, to initiate an outgoing call via the communication network112, to detect DTMF tones via the communication network 112 and toreceive and process CLID information. Other functions performed by thecall control portion 122 will become apparent to those skilled in theart having regard to the teachings of this invention. In someembodiments of the present invention, the network element 140 isconnected to the call control portion 122 via an ISDN PRI (MegaLink).

The processing entity 120 further comprises the aforementioned database124, which is accessible by the call control portion 122 and may be usedfor storing a plethora of information, including a plurality of userprofiles. With reference to FIG. 5, the content of the database 124 willnow be described. The database 124 comprises a number of records, suchas records 504, 506, 508 and 510. Each record can be associated with aparticular destination party, such as the destination party 102B or anyother destination party that subscribes to the CLID informationannouncement feature of this invention. In this example, the exemplarydepicted destination parties are USER_1 through to USER_4. A particulardestination party's record within the database 124 maintains arelationship between a network identifier of the particular destinationparty's communication device (such as communication device 106B) and anidentifier of the particular destination party's television receiver(such as the set-top box 108B). The database 124 may comprise furtherrecords denoting various aspects of the destination party's businessrelationship with the service provider such as services subscribed to,channel packages subscribed to and the like.

In some embodiments of the present invention, there may be more that onetelephony link associated with the destination party premises 104B andthere may be more than one communication device 106B, each communicationdevice 106B associated with each separate telephony link. For instance,plural members of the destination party premises 104B may have their ownseparate communication device 106B with associated network identifiers(i.e. separate telephone number). In these embodiments, a particulardestination party record in the database 124 may further maintain anassociation between plural communication device 106B identifiers andcorresponding names of the members of the destination party premises104B.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the database 124 canfurther comprise records associated with potential originating parties,such as the originating party 102A. These records can be provisionedand/or modified by the destination party 102B during the subscriptionprocess for the CLID information announcement feature of this inventionor at a later time. As such, the records associated with potentialoriginating parties can be associated with each particular destinationparty 102B. In some embodiments of the present invention, thedestination party 102B can group the potential originating partiesaccording to various categories, such as family, co-workers and thelike. The destination party 102B can further assign specific still oranimated images to the groups and/or to a specific potential destinationparty that can be displayed along with or instead of the CLIDinformation announcement as will be described in greater detail hereinbelow.

Specifically, in one scenario for a hypothetical destination party 102Bdenoted as USER_1 in the record 504, the network identifier of thecommunication device 106B can be a telephone number (in this scenario,the communication device 106B can be a POTS phone, a VoIP phone, a VoIPsoft client and the like). The network identifier of the set-top box108B can be a MAC address. In this exemplary scenario, the identifier ofthe communication device 106B can be “111-111-2222” and the identifierof the set-top box 108B can be “13567891011”. The record 504 cancomprise further information about USER_1 generally depicted at 504E.

In another scenario for a hypothetical destination party 102B denoted asUSER_2 in the record 506, the network identifier of the communicationdevice 106B can be a telephone number (in this scenario, thecommunication device 106B can be a POTS phone, a VoIP phone, a VoIP softclient and the like) and the network identifier of the set-top box 108Bcan be an IP address. In this exemplary scenario, the identifier of thecommunication device 106B can be “555-333-4444” and the identifier ofthe set-top box 108B can be “7.2.5.65”. It should be noted that the IPaddress can be either static or dynamic and in case of a dynamic IPaddress, the database 124 is operable to dynamically update the records(such as record 506) in a manner known to those of skill in the art. Therecord 506 can comprise further information about USER_2 generallydepicted at 506E.

In a further scenario for a hypothetical destination party 102B denotedas USER_3 in the record 508, the network identifier of the communicationdevice 106B can be an IP address (in this scenario, the communicationdevice 106B can be a VoIP phone, a VoIP soft client and the like). Thenetwork identifier of the set-top box 108B can be a pre-definedalpha-numerical or numerical address. In this exemplary scenario, theidentifier of the communication device 106B can be “8.5.6.75” and theidentifier of the set-top box 108B can be “3456_X”. The record 508 cancomprise further information about USER_3 generally depicted at 508E. Inthis particular example, the record 508 can comprise a name associatedwith the particular member of the destination party premises 104B, suchas “Andrea” or “mom”.

In a further scenario for a hypothetical destination party 102B denotedas USER_4 in the record 510, the USER_4 may have multiple communicationdevices 106B and, as such, may have multiple network identifiers(telephone numbers, IP addresses, etc.) associated with respectivemultiple communication devices 106B. For instance, the destination party102B may have more than one telephone line, may have a VoIP phone and aPSTN phone, a combination of multiple POTS and VoIP phones, as well as acombination of wireline and wireless phones. In this scenario severalnetwork identifiers (such as telephone numbers, IP addresses, etc.) canbe associated with a single identifier of the set-top box 108B. Forexample, “111-222-3333” may be a telephone number associated with afirst communication device 106B associated with USER_4 (for example, aPSTN or VoIP wireline phone). “111-333-5555” may be a telephone numberassociated with a second communication device 106B associated withUSER_4 (for example, another PSTN or VoIP wireline phone or a wirelesscommunication device), and “8.5.6.85” may be an IP Address associatedwith a third communication device 106B associated with USER_4 (forexample, a VoIP wireline phone). The network identifier of the set-topbox 108B can be a pre-defined alpha-numerical or numerical address. Inthis exemplary scenario, the identifier of the set-top box 108B can be“3456_Y”. The record 510 can comprise further information about USER_4generally depicted at 510E. In this particular example, the record 510can comprise a name associated with each of the telephone numbersassociated with the USER_4. For instance, the number “111-222-3333” canbe associated with John Doe, the number “111-333-5555” can be associatedwith Jane Doe and the IP address “8.5.6.85” can be associated with BobDoe.

The database 124 can comprise a number of further user recordsassociated with destination parties 102B other than USER_1, USER_2,USER_3 or USER_4 generally depicted as 512. It should be appreciatedthat any other suitable identifiers for communication devices andset-top boxes can be used. Naturally, other combinations of networkidentifiers for communication devices 106B or set-top boxes 108B can beused. For example, plural network identifiers associated with pluralset-top boxes 108B can be associated with a single identifier of acommunication device 106B.

Returning to FIG. 1, the processing entity 120 further comprises theaforementioned video control portion 126. The video control portion 126may be managed and/or controlled by the same entity as the call controlportion 122. Alternatively, the video control portion 126 may be undermanagement and/or control of a third party. The video control portion126 can be located in the same physical location as the call controlportion 122 or, alternatively, the video control portion 126 can belocated in a different physical location from the call control portion122 (such as another building, another city or another country for thatmatter).

The video control portion 126 is connected to a television receiver(such as the set-top box 108B) via a video distribution network 142. Thenature of the video distribution network 142 is not particularlylimiting and, as such, the video distribution network 142 can include aportion of the direct-to-home satellite broadcasting network, a cabledistribution network, an xDSL-based distribution network, a data networkadapted for video-over-IP distribution or a combination thereof. Itshould be appreciated that the video control portion 126 can be furthercoupled to a number of other customers' set-top boxes, this beingomitted from the FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity.

In one specific non-limiting example, the video control portion 126comprises an HP Proliant BL20p G3 Blade Server manufactured byHewlett-Packard Company of 3000 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, Calif., USA.As will be discussed in greater detail herein below, the video controlportion 126 is operable to receive messages from the call controlportion 122, to process the so-received messages and to send messages toone or more set-top boxes (such as the set-top box 108B) via the videodistribution network 142. It should be appreciated that the videocontrol portion 126 may be operable to perform a number of otherfunctions, such as compiling a variety of content from various contentsources, multiplexing various content streams, encoding the multiplexedcontent streams for distribution, transmitting the encoded contentstreams to a number of set-top boxes, billing, maintaining customerprofiles and channel line-ups.

With reference to FIG. 2 and to FIGS. 4A and 4B, operation of thenetwork element 114B in the context of extracting information associatedwith the incoming call arriving via the network 112 for the destinationparty 102B will now be described. FIG. 2 depicts a method for creating areplica of signalling information. FIGS. 4A and 4B depict a flow ofsignals, which are exchanged while performing the method of FIG. 2 intwo embodiments of the present invention.

In the first scenario, described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4A,it is assumed that the communication device 106B is PSTN-based (such asa POTS phone, etc.). It will be appreciated that in this scenario, thecommunication network 112 can comprise at least a portion of the PSTNand the network elements 114A and 114B can comprise switches (such asDMS-100).

At step 202, the network element 114B receives signalling informationassociated with the incoming call destined for the destination party102B. Specifically, as part of the signal flow S1 between the networkelement 114A and the network element 114B exchanged during theestablishment of the incoming call, signalling information is exchanged.A portion of the signal flow S1 comprises a CLID element 402 (i.e.information associated with the originator of the incoming call, such asthe telephone number of the communication device 106A associated withthe originating party 102A, a name associated with the originating party102A or a combination thereof) and a DN element 404 (i.e. informationassociated with the destination of the call, such as the telephonenumber of the communication device 106B associated with the destinationparty 102B).

In this scenario, the signalling information can be embodied in an SS7initial address message (IAM) message (i.e. a call set-up message knownto those skilled in the art) comprising a telephone number associatedwith originating party 102A or a combination of a telephone number and aname associated with the originating party 102A. Various fields of theIAM message can be used for storing such information, such as a PersonalInformation Parameter (PIP) field or the Generic Name field. It shouldbe appreciated that the signalling information or a portion thereof canbe embodied in SS7 messages exchanged subsequent to the IAM message,such as but not limited to a call progress message, etc.

In alternative scenarios, the signalling information may only contain atelephone number associated with the originating party 102A, but not thename associated with the originating party 102A. In these scenarios, thenetwork element 114B can determine the name of the originating party102A can be determined by accessing a name database (such as a LineInformation Data Bases (LIDB) database) to perform a look-up based on anetwork identifier (ex. a telephone number, an IP address or the like)associated with the originating party 102A. The accessing of thedatabase can be performed by issuing a Transaction CapabilitiesApplication Part (TCAP) query using the telephone number extracted fromthe signalling information.

At step 204, the network element 114B can determine whether thedestination party 102B is a party that subscribes to the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention. Firstly, an identityof the destination party 102B is determined from the signallinginformation associated with the incoming call (ex. the telephone numberassociated with the destination party 102B contained in the SS7 IAMmessage or any other suitable SS7 message). Specifically, theinformation contained in the DN element 404 can be used to determineidentity of the destination party 102B. The network element 114Bconsults the processing database 115 and determines whether theextracted destination information has been provisioned with the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention. In alternativeembodiments of the present invention, the determination of whether thedestination party 102B subscribes to the CLID information announcementfeature of this invention can be performed by retrieving a specific CLIDannouncement flag, such as but not limited to a Termination AttemptTrigger, a simultaneous call trigger or the like.

If it is determined that the destination information has not beenprovisioned with the CLID information announcement feature of thisinvention (i.e. the “NO” branch of step 204), then the network element114B returns to step 202 where it continues to monitor whethersignalling information associated with another incoming call has beenreceived.

For the purposes of the present example, it is assumed that thedestination party 102B does indeed subscribe to the CLID informationannouncement feature (i.e. the “YES” branch of step 204) and, as such,the telephone number associated with the destination party 102B has beenprovisioned as such in the processing database 115 of the networkelement 114B. It should be noted that step 204 is optional and may beomitted in some embodiments of the present invention.

Having determined that the destination party 102B subscribes to the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention, the network element114B proceeds to step 206. Specifically, the network element 114Bcreates a replica of the signalling information associated with theincoming call. It should be further understood that the signallinginformation may comprise plural quanta of information and the so-createdreplica may contain a portion or the entirety of the plural quanta ofinformation.

For the benefit of the reader it should be explained what informationmay be contained in the CLID element 402. The CLID element 402 cancontain a network identifier associated with the origin of the incomingcall (i.e. the telephone number associated with the communication device106A). The CLID element 402 can further contain a registered nameassociated with the originating party 102A. As such the CLID element 402may contain the following information: “613-111-6471; John Doe” denotingthat the telephone number associated with the communication device 106Aassociated with the originating party 102A is “613-111-6471” and theregistered name associated with the originating party 102A is “JohnDoe”. It should be appreciated that the CLID element 402 may compriseadditional or alternative information, as will be apparent to those ofskill in the art. In the particular example whereby the CLID element 402contains only the telephone number associated with the communicationdevice 106A, the name can be determined by performing a database look-up(such as by issuing a TCAP query to an LIDB database). The process forgenerating the telephone number information and the registered name isusually performed during the provisioning of a telephony link to theoriginating party premises 104A. The network element 114B is operable tocreate a replica of at least the CLID element 402 and DN element 404contained in the signal flow S1.

At step 208 the network element 114B sends the replica of the signallinginformation to the call control portion 122 of the processing entity120. Specifically, the network element 114B can attempt to establish atelephony link to the call control portion 122 to convey the replica ofthe signalling information to the call control portion 122. In onespecific non-limiting example, the network element 114B uses asimultaneous ringing (sometimes referred to as a SIMRing) function ofthe DMS-100 switch that creates a call to more than one terminatingnumber. In another specific non-limiting example, the network element114B can send a TCAP query to the call control portion 122. No matterhow the telephony link with the call control portion 122 is established,the telephony link can be established via the network element 140associated with the processing entity 220.

Specifically, the network element 114B creates a signal flow S2 destinedfor the network element 140. To create the signal flow S2, the networkelement 114B extracts the DN element 404 and augments the DN element 404with a special routing code (depicted as SC element 406). In onespecific non-limiting example, the SC element 406 comprises three (3)digits that signify to various network elements in the communicationsnetwork 112 to route the replica of the signalling information to thenetwork element 140 associated with the call control portion 122 of theprocessing entity 120. It should be understood that in other embodimentsof the present invention, any other format of the SC element 406 couldbe utilized which can be but is not limited to numerical codes,alpha-numerical codes or the like. The SC element 406 indicates to thevarious elements of the communication network 112 (such as the networkelement 140 and the like) that the telephony link being established withthe call control portion 122 should actually terminate at the callcontrol portion 122. As such, the signal flow S2 comprises at least theCLID element 402 (denoting the information associated with theoriginator of the incoming call, such as the originating party 102A),and the augmented DN element comprising the DN element 404 (denoting theinformation associated with the destination party, such as thedestination party 102B) and the SC element 406. The signal flow S2 istransmitted to the network element 140.

The network element 140 receives the replica of the signallinginformation embedded in the signal flow S2 and extracts variouscomponents embedded therein, such as information associated with theorigin of the incoming call (i.e. CLID element 402) and the augmenteddestination information (i.e. the DN element 404 and the SC element406). Responsive to receipt of the replica of signalling informationembedded in signal flow S2, the network element 140 extracts theaugmented destination information (i.e. the DN element 404 and the SCelement 406) and deletes the special routing code (i.e. SC element 406).

The network element 140 then creates a signal flow S3 destined for thecall control portion 122, effectively sending the destinationinformation (i.e. DN element 404) and the information associated withthe origin of the incoming call (i.e. CLID element 402) to the callcontrol portion 122. It will be recalled that in some embodiments of thepresent invention, the network element 140 is connected to the callcontrol portion 122 via an ISDN PRI (MegaLink). In these embodiments,the CLID element 402 and the DN element 404 are transmitted to the callcontrol portion 122 as part of a Q.931 Setup Message.

It should now be clear that by virtue of step 208 and the signal flowsS2 and S3, the call control portion 122 becomes aware of the informationrepresenting the origin of an incoming call, as well as informationassociated with the destination party 102B. Put another way, the networkelement 114B is operable to extract signalling information associatedwith the incoming call and to transmit the extracted signallinginformation to the processing entity 120 via the network element 140.The steps performed by the call control portion 122 will be described indetail herein below with reference to FIG. 3.

At step 210, the network element 114B attempts to establish a telephonylink with the communication device 106B. Specifically, the networkelement 114B creates a signal flow S4 to the communication device 106Busing the DN element 404 (i.e. destination information associated withthe communication device 106B). The signal flow S4 can comprise the CLIDelement 402. In the above-discussed scenario of the communicationnetwork 112 being the PSTN, the signal flow S4 can comprise an SS7 callset-up message known to those skilled in the art. It should be notedthat step 210 can be performed at the same time as the steps 206/208,before the steps 206/208 are performed or after the steps 206/208 havebeen performed.

With continued reference to FIG. 2 and with reference to FIG. 4B, inanother scenario, it is assumed that the destination party 102B uses aVoIP-based communication device 106B (such as a Voice-over-IP (VoIP)phone or a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) soft client). It will be appreciatedthat in this scenario, the communication network 112 comprises at leasta portion of a data network adapted for handling Voice-over-IP (VoIP)calls, such as the Internet, and the network elements 114A and 114B aresoft switches. It should be understood, that the network elements 114Aand 114B can be embodied in a single soft switch. In this scenario, thesignalling information comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)message (i.e. a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message knownto those skilled in the art).

At step 202, the network element 114B receives signalling informationassociated with the incoming call destined for the destination party102B, depicted as signal flow F1. The signalling information may bereceived from the communication device 106A as depicted in FIG. 4B, fromanother originating communication device or from the network element114A. In this scenario, the signalling information depicted as thesignal flow F1 comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invitemessage. Among other information, the signal flow F1 comprisesinformation associated with the communication device 106A, including thenetwork address and/or the registered name of the originating party 102A(i.e. CLID element 402) and the network identifier of the communicationdevice 106B (i.e. DN element 404).

At step 204, the network element 114B determines whether the destinationparty 102B is a party that subscribes to the CLID informationannouncement feature of this invention. Specifically, the identity ofthe destination party 102B can be determined from the signallinginformation associated with the incoming call (ex. the CLID element 402that contains the telephone number or another information associatedwith the destination party 102B, such as the IP address). The networkelement 114B consults the processing database 115 and determines whetherthe extracted destination information has been provisioned with the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention. If it is determinedthat the destination information has not been provisioned with the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention (i.e. the “NO” branchof step 204), then the network element 114B returns to step 202 where itcontinues to monitor whether signalling information associated withanother incoming call has been received.

For the purposes of the present example, it is assumed that thedestination party 102B does indeed subscribe to the CLID informationannouncement feature (i.e. the “YES” branch of step 204) and, as such,the telephone number or another identifier (such as an IP address or thelike) associated with the destination party 102B has been provisioned assuch in the processing database 115 of the network element 114B. Havingdetermined that the destination party 102B subscribes to the CLIDinformation announcement feature of this invention, the network element114B proceeds to step 206 where it creates a replica of the signallinginformation.

An alternative implementation of step 204 will now be discussed. In someembodiments of the present invention, if a particular destination party102B subscribes to the CLID information announcement feature of thisinvention, the appropriate flag in the processing database 115 isinserted to designate the call control portion 122 as a “registeredagent” for the destination party 102B. In other words, the entry isprovisioned to trigger a simultaneous connection to the network addressassociated with the call control portion 122 and the network addressassociated with the destination party 102B. In one-specific non-limitingexample, consider the following scenario. The communication device 106Bhas an IP address 108.55.22.101 and the call control portion 122 has anIP address 108.66.33.202. In this scenario the communication network 112is adapted to handle Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls. The destination party102B associated with the communication device 106B subscribes to theCLID information announcement feature of this invention and as such anentry associated with the destination party 102B can be made in theprocessing database 115 to denote that when a call destined for thedestination party 102B arrives, an attempt should be made to establish atelephony link to two destination numbers, i.e. the IP addressassociated with the destination party 102B (ex. 108.55.22.101) and theIP address associated with the call control portion 122 (ex.108.66.33.202). In other words, the call control portion 122 can beprovisioned as a “registered agent” associated with the destinationparty 102B alongside with the communication device 106B and any otherregistered agents that the destination party 102B may have. It should beunderstood that in this scenario, it is inherent that the destinationparty 102B subscribes to the CLID information announcement feature ofthis invention and the network element 114B proceeds to step 206.

At step 206, the network element 114B creates a replica of signallinginformation. In one specific non-limiting example, the network element114B can create a copy of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invitemessage by establishing a telephony link with the call control portion122. In some embodiments of the present invention, the network element114B can create the telephony link with the call control portion 122(i.e. effectively create a copy of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)invite message) using a “proxy” function known to those of skill in theart (also sometimes referred to as “proxying” or “proxying simultaneousringing”). It should be appreciated that any other suitable method forcreating a replica of the signalling information can be used. It shouldbe further understood that signalling information may comprise a pluralquanta of information and the so-created replica may contain a portionor the entirety of this plural quanta of information.

At step 208 the network element 114B sends the replica of the signallinginformation to the call control portion 122 of the processing entity120, which in this case may comprise a Ubiquity Application Server aspreviously described. The network element 114B is operable to transmitan IP packet (ex. a UDP or a TCP packet containing a replica of theSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message) containing the replicaof signalling information to the call control portion 122 over thecommunication network 112 and via the network element 140, which in thiscase may be a switch or the like. Specifically, the network element 114Bcreates a signal flow F2 containing the CLID element 402 (representingthe network address and/or the registered name of the originating party102A) and the DN element 404 (representing the network identifier of thecommunication device 106B). The signal flow information announcementservice F2 is then transmitted to the call control portion 122. Tosummarize, the network element 114B is operable to extract signallinginformation associated with the incoming call and to transmit theextracted signalling information to the call control portion 122 of theprocessing entity 120.

At step 210, the network element 114B attempts to establish a telephonylink with the communication device 106B. In the above-discussed scenariowhere the communication network 112 is a data network adapted forhandling Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls, this attempt comprises forwardingthe IP packet comprising Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invitemessage to the communication device 106B using the network addresscontained in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message.Specifically, the network element 114B creates a signal flow F3 destinedfor the communication device 106B containing the CLID element 402(representing the network address and/or the registered name of theoriginating party 102A) and the DN element 404 (representing the networkidentifier of the communication device 106B).

Operation of the processing entity 120 in the context of extractinginformation associated with the incoming call arriving via the network112 for the destination party 102B will now be described. Forillustration purposes only, the operation of the processing entity 120will be described with reference to the PSTN-based scenario describedwith reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4A. It should be understood that thefollowing discussion of the operation of the processing entity 120 canbe adapted to the aforementioned VoIP-based scenario. With reference toFIG. 3, a method for extracting information associated with the incomingcall will be described. For illustration purposes, reference will alsobe made to FIG. 4C, which depicts a flow of signals, exchanged whileperforming the method of FIG. 3. The method of FIG. 3 can beconveniently implemented at the call control portion 122. It should benoted the method of FIG. 3 can be performed simultaneously with, beforeor after certain steps of the method of FIG. 2. In one specificnon-limiting example, the method for extracting information associatedwith the incoming call can be performed simultaneously with, before orafter the aforementioned step 210 of the method of FIG. 2 (i.e.attempting to establish a telephony link with the destination party 102Bfor completion of the call).

At step 302, the call control portion 122 receives the replica of thesignalling information from the network element 114B. In someembodiments of the present invention, the call control portion 122receives the replica of the signalling information from the networkelement associated with the processing entity 120, such as the networkelement 140 (depicted as signal flow S3).

At step 304, the call control portion 122 extracts the CLID element 402and the DN element 404 from the signal flow S1 of FIG. 4A. Specifically,the call control portion 122 can retrieve the CLID element 402 and DNelement 404 from the Q.931 Setup Message received from the networkelement 140. For the benefit of the reader it should be recalled whatinformation may be contained in CLID element 402. The CLID element 402contains a network identifier associated with the origin of the incomingcall (i.e. the telephone number, IP address, etc. associated with thecommunication device 106A) and, in some circumstances, a name associatedwith the originating party 102A. In these circumstances, the callcontrol portion 122 will extract the network identifier associated withthe originator of the incoming call and will transmit the extractednetwork identifier to the set-top box 108B, as will be described ingreater detail herein below.

However, it will be appreciated that service providers allow theircustomers options to suppress the transmission of their number, by afeature generally known as “Presentation Restricted”. If the“Presentation Restricted” feature has been invoked for a particularoriginating party 102A, the CLID element will comprise a suitabletrigger. If the call control portion 122 retrieves such “PresentationRestricted” trigger from the CLID element 402, it is operable togenerate a “Private Caller” message that will be used in lieu of theinformation associated with the originating party 102A. It should benoted that any other suitable message can be used, such as “CallerNumber not Available” or the like.

In some circumstances, the CLID information may contain numbers that arenot recognized by the call control portion 122. With particularreference to the North American telephone numbering scheme (whichassigns telephone numbers having 7 or 10 digits), if the numbercontained in the CLID information is neither 7 nor 10 digits long, thecall control portion 122 is operable to generate “Private Caller”message that will be used in lieu of the information associated with theoriginating party 102A. It should be noted that any other suitablemessage can be used, such as “Caller Number not Available” or the like.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the call control portion122 can determine additional information associated with the originatingparty 102A. Specific reference is made to an embodiment whereby as theCLID element 402 contains only a telephone number associated with thecommunication device 106A. In these embodiments, the call controlportion 122 can determine a name associated with the originating party102A based on the telephone number contained in the CLID element 402.Specifically, the call control portion 122 may access a name database(not depicted), which can comprise a LIDB database, to retrieve the nameassociated with the specific telephone number associated with thecommunication device 106A. The accessing of the name database can beperformed by issuing a TCAP query. It should be understood that anyother suitable method for determining the name associated with theoriginating party 102A can be used. In further embodiments, theretrieved name may be used instead of the network identifier associatedwith the communication device 106A.

At step 306, the call control portion 122 determines a networkidentifier associated with the set-top box 108B (an ID element 408) thatin turn is associated with the destination party 102B. It will berecalled that the database 124 maintains a number of records containinguser profiles. For the purposes of this example, it will be assumed thatrecord 504 denoting USER_1 is associated with the destination party102B. The call control portion 122 accesses the database 124 andperforms a query based on the received DN element 404 (which in thiscase is assumed to be “111-111-2222”) to determine whether there existsa network identifier for a set-top box corresponding to the particularDN element 404. Based on the query to record 504, it is determined thatthe identifier of the set-top box 108B is “7.2.5.65”.

In the above-mentioned PSTN-based scenario discussed with reference toFIG. 2 and FIG. 4A, at step 308 appropriate remedial call treatment isprovided. It will be recalled that the replica of the signallinginformation can be created and transmitted by the network element 114Busing a SIMRing feature. It will be appreciated by those of skill in theart that the SIMRing function effectively establishes a call to theprocessing entity 120. The call control portion 122 is operable toinstruct the network element 140 to return a busy signal so as toindicate to the network element 114B (which originated the SIMRingfunction) that the call to the call control portion 122 can not beanswered. Alternatively, the remedial call treatment provided in step308 may comprise the call control portion 122 not answering the call andthe network element 140 returning a no answer (i.e. constant ringingsignal) to the network element 114B. Effectively, step 308 ensures thatthe call control portion 122 receives the replica of signallinginformation without actually answering the call from the network element114B. It should be noted that any other remedial call treatment thatwould prevent the incoming call from being connected to any party otherthan the destination party 102B can be used.

It should be understood, that in alternative embodiments (for instancein the above-mentioned VoIP-based scenario described with reference toFIG. 2 and FIG. 4B), step 308 can be omitted. In one specificnon-limiting example, if the communication network 112 comprises thedata network adapted for handling Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls and in thecase that the replica of signalling information received at step 302comprises a replica of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message,step 308 need not be performed.

At step 310, the call control portion 122 transmits the CLID element 402and the ID element 408 to the set-top box 108B. This step is logicallydepicted as signal flow S5 on FIG. 4C. It will be recalled that theset-top box identifier (i.e. the ID element 408) was determined in step306. In some embodiments of the present invention, the CLID element 402and the ID element 408 can be transmitted to the set-top box 108B viathe video control portion 126.

In a specific non-limiting example, the call control portion 122generates a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message containing theCLID element 402 and the ID element 408 (i.e. the identifier of theset-top box 108B determined in step 306) and transmits the SOAP messageto the video control portion 126. It should be noted that any othersuitable format for transmitting the CLID element 102 and the ID element408 can be used, such as an HTML message, an XML message or the like.

The video control portion 126 is operable to receive the SOAP messagefrom the call control portion 122 from which it retrieves the CLIDelement 402 and the ID element 408. Responsive to retrieval of the CLIDelement 402 and the identifier of the set-top box 108B (i.e. the IDelement 408), the video control portion 126 generates a CLIDannouncement trigger (such as an XML trigger, a proprietary protocoltrigger, an API based trigger or any other suitable trigger) andtransmits the CLID announcement trigger to the appropriate set-top box108B. It will be recalled that the identifier of the set-top box (i.e.ID element 408) was determined in step determined in step 306.Therefore, the video control portion 126 can address the CLIDannouncement trigger using the ID element 408 for distribution via thevideo distribution network 142.

The transmission of the CLID announcement trigger to the appropriateset-top box 108B can be implemented in any suitable manner, whichdepends on the type of the video distribution network 142 used. In onespecific non-limiting example of the video distribution network 142comprising a direct-to-home satellite distribution network, the CLIDannouncement trigger can be encapsulated into a token and the token canbe broadcast to all the available set-top boxes (such as set-top box108B). The token can further comprise an identifier of the set-top box108B to which the CLID announcement trigger pertains (i.e. the IDelement determined in step 306). The set-top box 108B that has the sameidentifier as the one encapsulated into the broadcast token is operableto recognize its identifier and to retrieve the CLID announcementtrigger encapsulated into the distributed token. In another specificnon-limiting example where the video distribution network 142 comprisesan IPTV based television system, the CLID announcement trigger can beencapsulated into an IP packet having an address that contains the IDelement determined in step 306. The IP packet can be transmitted to theset-top box 108B via the video distribution network 142. Specifically,the CLID announcement trigger can be packetized into a TCP or UDP packetand transmitted to the set-top box 108B using the network identifier ofthe set-top box 108B (such as an IP address). Yet in another specificnon-limiting example of the distribution network 142 comprising a cablenetwork, the video control portion 126 can transmit the CLIDannouncement trigger to all the available set-top boxes and to authorizethe set-top box 106B to retrieve the CLID announcement trigger.

Irrespective of how the CLID announcement trigger is transmitted to theset-top box 108B, upon receipt of the CLID announcement trigger, theset-top box 108B is operable to convey a CLID announcement using thedisplay 110B. It should be noted that it is contemplated that the CLIDannouncement may comprise several components, which depends on thecontent of the CLID element 402. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the CLID announcement can comprise a telephone numberassociated with the origin of the incoming call. In other embodiments ofthe present invention, the CLID announcement may comprise a telephonenumber and the associated registered name of the originating party 102A.In these embodiments, the display 110B can present an image representingeither the telephone number of the communication device 106A, the nameof the originating party 102A or combination thereof on the display 110Busing a picture-in-picture mode or image overlay mode.

In further embodiments, it is contemplated that a category associatedwith the type of the originating party may be further displayed (such asfamily, friends, business and the like). Yet in further embodiments, itis contemplated that an image associated with the originating party 102A(such as a still or animated image or the like) can be displayed. Thecategory information and/or the image associated with the originatingparty 102A can be maintained in an additional information file that canbe stored either in the database 124 or in the set-top box 108B. Thisadditional information file can be pre-provisioned by the destinationparty 102B for each potential originating party 102A. The additionalinformation file can be retrieved from the database 124 or the set-topbox 108B based on the CLID information associated with the originatingparty 102A.

It is further contemplated that the CLID announcement trigger generatedat step 310 may comprise information associated with identity of thedestination party 102B (for instance, a telephone number associated withthe communication device 106B or the name/alias associated with aparticular member of the destination party premises 104B), which can beincluded in the CLID information announcement presented to thedestination party 102B. This is particularly useful, when thedestination party 102B has more than one telephony link terminating atthe destination party premises 104B and, as such, may have access tomore than one communication device 106B. To that extent, the CLIDinformation announcement presented to the destination party 102B cancomprise a telephone number associated with a particular communicationdevice 106B for which the incoming call is destined.

Alternatively, the CLID information announcement presented to thedestination party 102B may comprise a visual indicator that isassociated with a particular member of the destination party premises104B. It should be recalled that the database 124 may comprise anindication of the identity of a particular member of the destinationparty premises 104B (such as the name or alias associated with theparticular member of the destination party premises 104B) with whom aparticular telephony link is associated. As such, the call controlportion 122 can augment the CLID announcement trigger with such anindication. In an alternative embodiment, the indication of the identityof a particular member of the destination party premises 104B can bestored at the set-top box 108B and the set-top box 108B can retrievesuch an indication based on the network identifier associated with thecommunication device 106B. When the set-top box 108B retrieves such anindication from the CLID announcement trigger or retrieves such anindication pursuant to a local look-up, it is operable to present theindication to the destination party 102B with the CLID informationannouncement. In one specific non limiting example, the set-top box 108Bcan cause displaying of the name or alias associated with thedestination party 102B (for instance, “Andrea” or “mom”). In anotherspecific non-limiting example, another visual indicator can be provided(such as a color-coded indicator or the like). These additional featuresallow the destination party 102B to more effectively identify thecommunication device 106B to which the incoming call is placed and/orthe specific member of the destination party premises 104B for whom theincoming call is destined.

In addition, it should be appreciated that certain steps of the methodof FIG. 3 are performed independently and irrespective of outcome ofcertain steps of the method of FIG. 2. To illustrate, consider thefollowing example. The destination party 102B may be enjoying aparticular program using the display 110B. At the same time someone atthe destination party premises 104B is using the communication device106B. At the same time, the originating party 102A attempts to make anincoming call destined for the destination party 102B. According tovarious steps of the method of FIG. 2, the network element 114B createsa replica of the signalling information and forwards same to the callcontrol portion 122. The network element 114B further attempts tocomplete the call to the communication device 106B. The attempt islikely to result in a failure (such as a busy signal or voice mail), andconsequently the originating party 102A will not be able to reach thedestination party 102B. However, the call control portion 122 performssteps 302, 304, 306, 308 and 310 of the method of FIG. 3 and transmitsthe CLID announcement trigger to the set-top box 180B via the videodistribution network 142. Pursuant to receipt of such a CLIDannouncement trigger, the set-top box 108B will provide a CLIDinformation announcement to the destination party 102B using the display110B. As such, the destination party 102B becomes aware of theinformation associated with the origin of the incoming call even if thetelephony link (i.e. link via the communication network 112) is busy orunavailable for another reason.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments,certain functionality of the processing entity 120 and/or the set-topbox 108B and/or the network element 114B may be implemented aspre-programmed hardware or firmware elements (e.g., application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmableread-only memories (EEPROMs), etc.), or other related components. Inother embodiments, the call control portion 122 and/or the set-top box108B and/or the network element 114B may comprise an arithmetic andlogic unit (ALU) having access to a code memory (not shown) which storesprogram instructions for the operation of the ALU in order to executethe various processes described above. The program instructions could bestored on a medium which is fixed, tangible and readable directly by theprocessing entity 120 and/or the set-top box 108B and/or the networkelement 114B (e.g., removable diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, or fixed disk), orthe program instructions could be stored remotely but transmittable tothe processing entity 120 and/or the set-top box 108B and/or the networkelement 114B via a modem or other interface device (e.g., acommunications adapter) connected to a network over a transmissionmedium. The transmission medium may be either a tangible medium (e.g.,optical or analog communications lines) or a medium implemented usingwireless techniques (e.g., microwave, infrared or other transmissionschemes).

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that there are yet furtheralternative implementations and modifications possible for implementingthe present invention, and that the above implementations and examplesare only illustrations of one or more embodiments of the presentinvention. The scope of the invention, therefore, is only to be limitedby the claims appended hereto.

1. A method, comprising: receiving signalling information associatedwith an incoming call destined for a destination party, the signallinginformation comprising a portion conveying information regarding anorigin of the incoming call and information regarding an identity of thedestination party; responsive to said receiving, attempting to establisha telephony link with a device associated with the destination partyover a communication network; attempting to establish a second telephonylink with a processing entity to convey said portion of the signallinginformation to the processing entity to cause delivery of an indicationof the origin of the incoming call over a television link associatedwith the destination party, said indication based on said informationregarding an origin of the incoming call.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said receiving signalling information comprises receiving an SS7initial address message (IAM) message.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinattempting to establish a second telephony link comprises augmentingsaid portion of the signalling information with a routing code, therouting code for indicating to the communication network that saidportion of the signalling information is to be routed to the processingentity.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said attempting to establish asecond telephony link comprises invoking a simultaneous ringingfunction.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising detecting calltreatment provided by the processing entity via said second telephonylink in response to the processing entity receiving said portion of thesignalling information.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said calltreatment comprises one of a busy signal and a no answer signal.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said attempting to establish a secondtelephony link with a processing entity is executed in response toencountering a termination call attempt trigger.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein said receiving signalling information comprises receiving aSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) invite message.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein said attempting to establish a second telephony linkcomprises invoking a proxy function.
 10. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising provisioning a network address associated with the processingentity as a registered agent associated with the destination party; saidprovisioning operable for triggering said attempting to establish asecond telephony link.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein saidinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call comprises one of atelephone number and an IP address; and wherein said informationregarding an identity of the destination party comprises one of atelephone number and an IP address.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinsaid information regarding an origin of the incoming call furthercomprises a name associated with the originating party.
 13. The methodof claim 1, further comprising triggering the processing entity todetermine a name associated with the origin of the incoming call. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein said triggering the processing entitycomprises triggering the processing entity to access a databasecomprising a plurality of names, each name associated with potentialinformation regarding an origin of an incoming call.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein said triggering the processing entity comprisesissuing an SS7 Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) query.16. The method of claim 1, wherein said information regarding an originof the incoming call comprises at least one of a telephone number, an IPaddress and a name associated with the origin of the incoming call; andwherein said identity of the destination party comprises one of atelephone number and an IP address.
 17. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid indication of the origin of the incoming call comprises saidinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising accessing a database to determine saidindication of the origin of the incoming call based on said informationregarding an origin of the incoming call.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein said information regarding an origin of the incoming callcomprises a network identifier associated with the origin of theincoming call; and wherein said indication of the origin of the incomingcall comprises at least a name associated with the origin of theincoming call.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said attempting toestablish a second telephony link with a processing entity causes theprocessing entity to forward an announcement trigger to a set-top boxassociated with the destination party via the television link, theannouncement trigger comprising at least said indication of the originof the incoming call for conveyance over a display connected to theset-top box.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the announcementtrigger is instrumental in causing the conveyance of said indication ofthe origin of the incoming call over the display.
 22. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said attempting to establish a telephony link with adevice associated with the destination party and said attempting toestablish a second telephony link with a processing entity are performedsimultaneously.
 23. The method of claim 1, wherein said attempting toestablish a second telephony link with a processing entity is performedbefore said attempting to establish a telephony link with a deviceassociated with the destination party.
 24. The method of claim 1,wherein said attempting to establish a second telephony link with aprocessing entity is performed after said attempting to establish atelephony link with a device associated with the destination party. 25.The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether saiddestination party subscribes to an announcement service for enabling theinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call to be announced tothe destination party over a television link associated with thedestination party.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein said attemptingto establish a second telephony link with a processing entity isperformed only if said determining step is positive.
 27. A networkelement adapted to perform the method of claim
 1. 28. A method,comprising: receiving a telephony call from a network elementresponsible for handling an incoming call destined for a deviceassociated with a destination party, the telephony call having beenestablished by the network element in response to receiving signallinginformation associated with the incoming call destined for thedestination party; said signalling information comprising a portionconveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call andinformation regarding an identity of the destination party; saidtelephony call having been established to convey said portion of thesignalling information; responsive to said receiving, causingtransmission of an announcement trigger over a television linkassociated with the destination party to cause an indication of theorigin of the incoming call to be announced to the destination party,said indication based on said information regarding an origin of theincoming call.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said signallinginformation comprises an SS7 initial address message (IAM) message. 30.The method of claim 28, wherein said information regarding an origin ofthe incoming call comprises a telephone number and a name associatedwith the destination party.
 31. The method of claim 28, wherein saidinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call comprises atelephone number associated with the origin of the incoming call. 32.The method of claim 31, further comprising determining a name associatedwith the origin of the incoming call based on said information regardingan origin of the incoming call.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein saiddetermining a name associated with the origin of the incoming callcomprises accessing a database; said database maintaining a relationshipbetween each of a plurality of information regarding an origin of theincoming call and a corresponding name.
 34. The method of claim 33,wherein said determining a name associated with the origin of theincoming call is triggered by issuing of a Transaction CapabilitiesApplication Part (TCAP) query.
 35. The method of claim 28, wherein saidinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call comprises at leastone of a telephone number, an IP address and a name associated with theorigin of the incoming call; and wherein said information regarding anidentity of the destination party comprises one of a telephone numberand an IP address.
 36. The method of claim 28, further comprisingdetermining a network identifier of a set-top box associated with thedestination party.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein said determiningis performed based on said information regarding an identity of thedestination party.
 38. The method of claim 36, the destination partybeing a particular destination party, the method further comprising:accessing a database, said database comprising at least one record, eachof the at least one record maintaining a relationship betweeninformation regarding an identity of a respective destination party anda corresponding network identifier of a set-top box associated with therespective destination party; retrieving from the database the networkidentifier of the set-top box associated with the particular destinationparty based on the information regarding an identity of the particulardestination party.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein said respectiveinformation regarding an identity of the particular destination partycomprises one of a telephone number and an Internet Protocol (IP)address.
 40. The method of claim 28, wherein said causing transmissionof an announcement trigger comprises forwarding the announcement triggervia the television link.
 41. The method of claim 28, wherein saidcausing transmission of an announcement trigger comprises forwarding theannouncement trigger to a video control portion, the video controlportion having control over the television link associated with thedestination party.
 42. The method of claim 41, wherein said forwardingthe announcement trigger comprises creating one of a SOAP message, anHTML message and an XML message.
 43. The method of claim 28, whereinsaid causing transmission of an announcement trigger comprises:distributing the announcement trigger via a plurality of televisionlinks, the plurality of television links comprising the television linkassociated with the destination party; exclusively authorizing a set-topbox associated with the television link associated with the destinationparty to be responsive to said distributing the announcement trigger.44. The method of claim 43, further comprising determining a networkidentifier associated with the set-top box associated with thetelevision link associated with the destination party.
 45. The method ofclaim 44, wherein said distributing the announcement trigger comprisesdistributing said network identifier associated with the set-top box,wherein said exclusively authorizing is triggered by said networkidentifier associated with the set-top box.
 46. The method of claim 28,wherein said causing transmission comprises addressing said announcementtrigger to a set-top box associated with the television link associatedwith the destination party.
 47. The method of claim 28, wherein saidcausing transmission of an announcement trigger comprises forwardingadditional information associated with the origin of the incoming call.48. The method of claim 47, wherein said additional informationcomprises at least one of an image associated with a potential origin ofthe incoming call, an indication of a group to which a potential originof the incoming call belongs and a photo associated with a potentialorigin of the incoming call.
 49. The method of claim 47, wherein saidforwarding additional information associated with the origin of theincoming call comprises accessing a database to retrieve said additionalinformation associated with the origin of the incoming call based onsaid information regarding an origin of the incoming call.
 50. Themethod of claim 28, wherein said indication of the origin of theincoming call includes at least said information regarding an origin ofthe incoming call.
 51. The method of claim 28, further comprisingdetermining a name associated with the origin of the incoming call. 52.The method of claim 51, wherein said determining a name associated withthe origin of the incoming call comprises accessing a database; saiddatabase maintaining a relationship between each of a plurality ofinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call and a correspondingname; retrieving a name associated with the origin of the incoming callbased on said information regarding an origin of the incoming call. 53.The method of claim 52, wherein said determining a name associated withthe origin of the incoming call is triggered by issuing of an SS7Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) query.
 54. The methodof claim 28, wherein said causing transmission of an announcementtrigger comprises causing determination of an indication of the identityof the destination party; said indication of the destination party beingbased on the information regarding the identity of the destinationparty.
 55. The method of claim 54, wherein said indication of theidentity of the destination party comprises at least one of a telephonenumber associated with the destination party, an Internet Protocol (IP)address associated with the destination party, a name associated withthe destination party, an alias associated with the destination party,an image associated with the destination party and a color-codedindication associated with the destination party.
 56. The method ofclaim 54, wherein said causing determination of an indication of theidentity of the destination party comprises accessing a database toretrieve said indication of the identity of the destination party basedon the information regarding an identity of the destination party. 57.The method of claim 56, wherein said causing determination of anindication of the identity of the destination party comprises triggeringa set-top box associated with the destination party to access a databaseto retrieve said indication of the identity of the destination partybased on the information regarding an identity of the destination party.58. The method of claim 28, further comprising providing a remedial calltreatment to said network element via said second telephony call. 59.The method of claim 58, wherein said providing a remedial call treatmentcomprises generating one of a busy signal and a no answer signal oversaid second telephony link.
 60. A system, comprising: at least onenetwork element associated with a communication network; a processingentity; the at least one network element being operable: to receivesignalling information associated with an incoming call destined for adestination party, the signalling information comprising a portionconveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call andinformation regarding an identity of the destination party; responsiveto receiving the signalling information, to attempt establishing atelephony link with a device associated with the destination party overa portion of the communication network; to attempt establishing a secondtelephony link with the processing entity to convey said portion of thesignalling information to the processing entity; the processing entitybeing operable to receive said portion of the signalling information tocause delivery of an indication of the origin of the incoming call overa television link associated with the destination party, said indicationbased on said information regarding an origin of the incoming call. 61.The system of claim 60, wherein said communication network comprises aPublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); and wherein said signallinginformation comprises an SS7 initial address message (IAM) message. 62.The system of claim 60, wherein to attempt establishing a secondtelephony link with the processing entity, the at least one networkelement is further operable to augment said portion of the signallinginformation with a routing code, the routing code being operable toindicate to said communication network that said portion of thesignalling information is to be routed to the processing entity.
 63. Thesystem of claim 60, wherein to attempt establishing a second telephonylink, the at least one network element is operable to invoke asimultaneous ringing function.
 64. The system of claim 63, wherein saidprocessing entity is operable to provide call treatment to said at leastone network element via said second telephony link in response toreceipt of said portion of the signalling information.
 65. The system ofclaim 64, wherein said call treatment comprises one of a busy signal anda no answer signal.
 66. The system of claim 60, wherein the at least onenetwork element is further operable to invoke a termination call attempttrigger.
 67. The system of claim 61, wherein responsive to invoking atermination call attempt trigger, the at least one network element isfurther operable to determine a name associated with the origin of theincoming call.
 68. The system of claim 67, wherein to determine a nameassociated with the origin of the incoming call, the at least onenetwork element is operable to issue a Transaction CapabilitiesApplication Part (TCAP) query.
 69. The system of claim 60, wherein saidcommunication network comprises a data network adapted for handlingVoice-over-IP (VoIP) calls; and wherein said signalling informationtraverses the data network and comprises a Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) invite message.
 70. The system of claim 69, wherein to attemptestablishing a second telephony link, the at least one network elementis operable to invoke a proxy function.
 71. The system of claim 69,wherein a network address associated with the processing entity isprovisioned as a registered agent associated with the destination party;whereby said network address provisioned as a registered agent operableto trigger the at least one network element to attempt establishing asecond telephony link.
 72. The system of claim 60, wherein theprocessing entity comprises a video control portion, the video controlportion having control over the television link associated with thedestination party; and wherein the processing entity is further operableto transmit the announcement trigger to the video control portion fordistribution over the television link associated with the destinationparty.
 73. The system of claim 60, the destination party being aparticular destination party, wherein the system further comprises, saiddatabase operable to maintain at least one record, each of the at leastone record maintaining a relationship between information regarding anidentity of a respective destination party and a corresponding networkidentifier of a set-top box associated with the respective destinationparty;
 74. The system of claim 73, wherein said information regarding anorigin of the incoming call is one of a telephone number and an InternetProtocol (IP) address.
 75. The system of claim 73, wherein said databaseis further operable to maintain additional information provisioned bythe destination party.
 76. The system of claim 75, wherein saidadditional information comprises at least one of an image associatedwith a potential origin of the incoming call, an indication of a groupto which a potential origin of the incoming call belongs and a photoassociated with a potential origin of the incoming call.
 77. The systemof claim 76, wherein said additional information can be used to generatean additional indication of the identity of the origin of the incomingcall based on the information regarding an origin of the incoming call.78. The system of claim 60, further comprising a distribution network,wherein said television link traverses said distribution network. 79.The system of claim 78, wherein said distribution network comprises oneof a direct-to home broadcasting network, a cable distribution networkand a video-over-IP distribution network.
 80. The system of claim 60,further comprising a set-top box associated with the destination party,wherein to cause delivery of an indication of the origin of the incomingcall, the processing entity is operable to transmit an announcementtrigger to the set-top box, the announcement trigger comprising at leastsaid indication of the origin of the incoming call.
 81. The system ofclaim 80, wherein pursuant to receipt of the announcement trigger, saidset-top box is operable to extract said indication of the origin of theincoming call.
 82. The system of claim 81, wherein said set-top box isfurther operable to cause displaying of said indication of the origin ofthe incoming call to the destination party.
 83. A network elementcomprising: means for receiving signalling information associated withan incoming call destined for a destination party, the signallinginformation comprising a portion conveying information regarding anorigin of the incoming call and information regarding an identity of thedestination party; means for attempting to establish a telephony linkwith a device associated with the destination party over a communicationnetwork responsive to said receiving, means for attempting to establisha second telephony link with a processing entity to convey said portionof the signalling information to a processing entity to cause deliveryof the information regarding the origin of the call over a televisionlink associated with the destination party.
 84. An apparatus,comprising: a first interface operable to connect to a communicationnetwork and to receive a telephony call from a network elementresponsible for handling an incoming call destined for a deviceassociated with a destination party, the telephony call having beenestablished by the network element in response to receiving signallinginformation associated with the incoming call destined for thedestination party; said signalling information comprising a portionconveying information regarding an origin of the incoming call andinformation regarding an identity of the destination party; saidtelephony call having been established to convey said portion of thesignalling information; a second interface operable to connect to atelevision link associated with the destination party; a processing unitcoupled to said first and second interfaces; said processing unitoperable to receive said signalling information via said first interfaceand to cause transmission via said second interface of an announcementtrigger to cause an indication of the origin of the incoming call to beannounced to the destination party, said indication based on saidinformation regarding an origin of the incoming call.